N4 (nuclear reactor)

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Image of the N4 system in the Civaux nuclear power plant

The type N4 nuclear reactor is a water-cooled and light water moderated pressurized water reactor of the 3rd generation developed by the former French company Framatome . It has a thermal output of 4250 MW th , an electrical output of 1450 MW e net and thus an efficiency of 34.1%.

Projected data

Nuclear power plant with pressurized water reactor (schematic diagram)

The reactor has 205 fuel assemblies with 264 fuel rods each. The fuel is slightly enriched uranium oxide (UO 2 ) with a total weight of 110,000 kg. The reactor core has a diameter of 3.48 m and a height of 4.27 m. The reactor pressure vessel has a wall thickness of 230 mm, is 13.65 m high and has a diameter of 4.65 m. The cooling circuit is a 4-loop design (therefore N 4 ). To prevent vapor bubbles in the cooling circuit, the pressure in the primary cooling system is 155  bar . The four primary heat exchangers are located in the reactor pressure vessel for safety reasons. The live steam generated is fed into Alstom's 1500 MW Arabelle turbine at a pressure of 71 bar at 268.8 ° C.

The projected service life is 40 years.

Plants with N4 reactors

There are only four operating plants of this type; two blocks each in Civaux (blocks 1 and 2) and in Chooz (blocks B1 and B2). The owner of these systems is the French utility company EDF . From their commissioning in the 1990s, the four plants were considered to be the most powerful in the world in terms of electrical output until they were overtaken by the commissioning of the EPR at the Taishan nuclear power plant .

Overview

Reactor block Reactor type net
power 		gross
power 		start of building Network
synchronization 		Commercialization
of essential operation 		switching off
processing
Chooz-B1 Pressurized water reactor 1500 MW 1560 MW 01/01/1984 08/30/1996 05/15/2000
Chooz-B2 Pressurized water reactor 1500 MW 1560 MW December 31, 1985 04/10/1997 09/29/2000
Civaux-1 Pressurized water reactor 1495 MW 1561 MW October 15, 1988 12/24/1997 01/29/2002 (Planned for 2037)Template: future / in 5 years
Civaux-2 Pressurized water reactor 1495 MW 1561 MW 04/01/1991 12/24/1999 04/23/2002 (Planned for 2039)Template: future / in 5 years

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Institute for Safety and Risk Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna: Description of the power plant type N4. 2008, archived from the original on April 20, 2013 ; accessed on January 1, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Operating data for Block Chooz B1. In: IAEA - PRIS. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Operating data from Block Chooz B2. In: IAEA - PRIS. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Operating data for Block Civeaux-1. In: IAEA - PRIS. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Operating data for Block Civeaux-2. In: IAEA - PRIS. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .